Channing Tatum has become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. So if he says he wants to play a superhero, a movie studio would be very smart to set him up with the project he wants.
For the past year, Tatum has been rather vocal about wanting to play Gambit, an extremely popular X-Men character from the 1990s era of the comic books, and producer Lauren Shuler-Donner has been eager to oblige. Tatum now has the star power to get a Gambit movie made if he wants, and that’s what is going to happen.
According to Variety, Fox will indeed make a Gambit film starring Tatum, with a targeted release date of October 7, 2016. That will put it in theaters approximately five months after the next X-Men movie, X-Men: Apocalypse, hits screens on May 27, 2016. Will Tatum as Gambit make an appearance in the X-Men sequel to boost interest in his solo film? No word on that yet.
How do you say October 7, 2016 in Cajun?
— Channing Tatum (@channingtatum) January 6, 2015
Gambit is from Louisiana and sports a thick Cajun accent, so Tatum will apparently have to get to work on that. The character wasn’t featured in any of the five X-Men movies. However, he did appear in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine film, played by Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights).
http://youtu.be/Gn6hIPLO9VQ
As mentioned, Gambit — real name, Remy LeBeau — was an extremely popular character among X-Men comic book fans upon his debut in 1990. His mutant superpower is the ability to charge objects with kinetic energy, favoring playing cards as his delivery system to lay beatings on opponents. Perhaps because he hasn’t been prominently featured in the X-Men movie franchise, his popularity seems to have waned. Or maybe he worked better as a secondary character among a team, rather than in his own solo adventures.
Personally, Gambit’s popularity coincided with my break from comic book fandom, so I’ve never developed any affection toward the character. But for those who were fans of the comics and cartoons of the 1990s, seeing their beloved X-Man on screen could be extremely enticing.
